Talent System: I Instantly Master My Opponents Skills
Chapter 151: Caught (2)

Chapter 151: Caught (2)

The people shuddered at his gaze, combined with his devilish grin and the crimson red blood, he looked like the devil.

The Unknown Darkness itself, standing in front of them like a grim reaper ready to take their lives.

’My reputation really scares low rankers.’

He mused.

The reputation of the Unknown Darkness was something that struck fear into the hearts of low rankers; after all, even though he was ranked a bit high in the bingo book due to his circumstances there was no denying that he ranked quite high.

The bounty that he had attracted was enormous.

And most people were wise to understand that only high risk brought high returns.

That was why the people were frightened by Jason’s sudden appearance.

"They... They say that where- wherever he goe-"

The man stopped talking as his hand went over his wound.

"The other Hachiman and that new rogue civilian."

The man let out a gasp.

From behind Jason, two other silhouettes suddenly appeared next to him.

Asahi and Sean.

"It’s that rogue civilian..."

Someone in their midst spoke, the person sounded like she had given up on living.

One of the people whom the Unknown Darkness was said to have been seen with.

"Where is this place?"

Sean questioned, glancing around in confusion.

"Relax. We’ve left that place."

Even he didn’t know how that teleportation took place, but he could guess that it had something to do with the inscriptions on the wall of the underground cave.

"The only thing left is to find the next settlement and sneak in."

He wasn’t just speaking to Sean, he was speaking to the both of them.

"Where are we?"

Asahi asked as he gazed around.

The teen’s gaze landed on the people in the cave, his eyes racing through its every corner before finally stopping.

His gaze rested on a particular place, on the other people present in the cavern.

He immediately discerned that they were civilians.

"We’re somewhere."

Jason answered finally.

"But we’re obviously close to the next settlement."

He added.

"Kira said we should continue moving, and he’ll catch up with us."

Jason turned towards Sean, facing downwards to look him in the eyes.

The boy was clearly indicating that they should continue on their way. He was also mad, the look on his face indicating that he had been in an argument with his brother.

"We should wait for him."

Jason wasn’t trying to make him more mad, he was only saying his opinion.

He was only suggesting that because he was sure of something, if there were people here that meant that there could be people outside.

And that would increase their chances of being caught.

He had been a rogue for eight months and he knew that it was much easier to hide in a settlement which they infiltrated silently compared to one where they made their presence known to none.

The awakeneds would know where they went, the guard’s body would be found quicker than expected. And a whole lot of other complications that could have been avoided.

It would be much easier if he just killed all of them.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t sneak around when the effects of his presence was always active. When he was with Kira, he had to take the longest routes.

"Why is he still there?"

Jason questioned.

Asahi had walked off from them.

"I don’t know."

Sean replied.

His irritation was growing with every word he said.

"Then we should wait for him, what if something happened to him and we just left both of them back there?"

Sean looked at him, his disbelief obvious.

"Don’t act like you don’t know."

He sounded disgusted.

Without another word, he walked away.

There was a small opening in the cave, one in which a fully grown man would have to crawl to get through it.

As the boy walked past the heavily wounded people, they shuddered, but the boy paid no attention to him. Not even Asahi glanced at him, he was already used to Sean’s short-temper.

Especially when he was angry.

Sean got on his knees and crawled out of the cave.

Jason watched all of this, his grin vanishing and his expression unreadable.

’I would rather not have a companion at all, unfortunately I’m stuck with him.’

He could only sigh out loud at his luck.

Even after that incident with the Frost Maggots the boy had never learned his lesson, there were still some occasions where he was almost killed by monsters.

"If he gets caught again..."

Jason stopped himself.

’I shouldn’t be one to talk.’

He refocused on the civilians.

’After all, I’ve also not learned my lesson...’

He felt for his eyes.

"Asahi, let’s go."

The boy turned to him, his expression unreadable.

His eyes were moist, and he had been staring at a lifeless corpse. It was one that had fallen minutes before Jason made his appearance.

He wiped his eyes and smiled sorrowfully.

"Yeah, let’s go."

He made his way towards Jason, leaving the corpse behind.

Jason tilted his head to the side.

’That’s the corpse of a woman.’

He mused.

’Maybe the woman looked similar to his sister or maybe his mother.’

He knew Asahi, he had stayed with the boy for many months.

He had no companions, all his former companions had died before his eyes, prompting him to stop associating with people.

The only reason he joined Jason and Asahi was because he finally found people stronger than himself.

’Or maybe one of his first companions?’

He dispelled the thoughts in his head, instead choosing to focus on the path ahead on him.

"Don’t kill them."

Jason nodded at the teen’s words.

"I won’t."

He had no desire to needlessly kill these people.

At the very least, they would die of loss of blood either way.

Asahi crawled out of the hole, he was followed by Jason whom tagged a little far away.

The ground outside the cave was wet and sloppy, that was evidence that rain had fallen a while ago.

"Where are we going?"

He questioned.

Jason shrugged in response.

’He seems a little better.’

Jason thought as he brought out the map that had been sketched for him. He only studied it for a few moments before storing it back.

"Right."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, why wouldn’t I be?"

That was the answer he received.

"And we also need to find Sean."

A moment later, they were sprinting through the right path in the direction Jason had pointed out.

’Hopefully, he hasn’t been killed.’

They both moved quickly, running at a speed in perceivable to normal humans.

"Jason, I haven’t asked you a question like this before..."

Asahi started as they ran.

"Hmm."

He hummed in response, his eyes flickering over to the boy.

"Do you miss your parents?"

Finally, he asked the question.

Jason showed shock, but it was only for a brief moment, and his expression returned to normal.

He pondered on what his answer would be.

He wondered if he should say the truth; he never had any kind of relationship with his mother, except a random skill he had managed to copy from her.

His father was something else entirely, but he was sure that he didn’t hate the man.

"No."

Neither did he miss his parents in his old life.

"Oh."

"They never really cared for me so I don’t have any special feelings for them.

"To me, they were just people that abandoned me in a house with the basics, I don’t hate them nor do I love them."

He answered honestly.

’So my guess was correct, that person did look like his mother.’

"I guess we were raised differently, huh?"

Asahi let out a dry chuckle.

"I guess so."

’You have no idea.’

He didn’t say that out loud.

They refocused on the path ahead of them, moving quickly on the mud road.

Suddenly, Jason’s blinked.

In his initial position there was a brief afterimage, however it quickly faded away. A brief moment later, Asahi followed after him.

One hid in the foliage of some thick bushes, the other one had leaped into a tree. The noises of their leaves rustling permeated the otherwise silent atmosphere.

He heard footsteps, the sound of shoes against the mud.

Jason could hear muffled protests.

’What is happening?’

He mused.

He could hear muffled sounds but he didn’t know who made them. The last thing that he could do was move, doing so would make the leaves rustle and give his location away.

"You boy, when I find your brother both of you are screwed."

The man said. He sounded ecstatic.

"Do you know how much money I’ll get for your dead bodies? I’ll live like a king!"

He sounded happy.

’Could that really be him?’

Jason wondered.

At the man’s words, he heard the rustling of leaves from above and a figure descended.

’Did Asahi come down?’

He wondered.

He couldn’t see anything.

"Don’t come a step closer, otherwise I’ll kill this boy here."

He could hear the words from outside but couldn’t tell what was going on.

"Oh, you’re that rogue civilian! That one that appeared a few months ago..."

"If you take a step closer, I’ll kill this boy."

’That must be Sean.’

"But... If you’re around, that means the Unknown Darkness must be close as well."

Jason didn’t need any further prompting.

He walked out of the bush slowly.

It was a muscular man with blood stained clothes and a few wounds himself. He held Sean from behind, holding the boy tightly while also making sure to put a hand on his mouth to prevent him from speaking.

’He really got kidnapped.’

"The Unknown Darkness."

He didn’t need any more words.

"Are you a fool?"

Jason questioned.

Before the man could respond, he vanished.

But he wasn’t using the blink.